Machine for sealing glass bulbs



Jan; 7, 1947. c. EISLER I MACHINE FOR SEALING GLASS BULBS Filed Nov. 17, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR M (5/9100 Air may Jan. 7 1947.

C. EISLER MACHINE FOR SEALING GLASS BULBS I Filed Nov. 17, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 7, 1947. E SLER v 2,413,960

JIACHINE FOR SEALING GLASS BULBS Filed Nov'. 17, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 //v vslyroR A7770 E V Jn. 7,194?- I v LCLEISLER 2,413,960

MACHINE FOR SEALING GLASS BULBS Filed Nov. 17, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTUR Jan. 7, 1947. I c. EISLER 1 ,9

MACHINE FOR SEALI ING GLASS BULBS v Filed Nov. 17, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 M Ill/l/l/l/A Ill/[III/I///l///////II//IIIIII/Il/II/IIIIIIIIII/IIIIIIIII/I/IIIIIII INVNTUR 7 A77 NEX Patented Jan. 7, 1947 Ulll'l'lll) STATES PATENT OFFICE MACHINEI'FOR SEALING GLASSBUIJB'S Charles Eisler, South Orange, -N. J ApplicationNovel'nber 17, 1943, Serial Noi510g848" 2 Claims.

This invention relates to arr-improved machine of the type that seals glass-bulbs such as electric light bulbs and comprisesa rotatable table or plate that supports rotating bulb supports and sealing heads arranged insets, the whole being operated by means for intermittently rotating the plateand rotating the sets and halting. the rotation of the setsat predetermined stations in the rotation of the plate.

The invention relates to'the mechanical means that carries out the above-described steps. The machine enables thesealing to be accomplished in a short time thusincreasing the capacity of the machine as'compared to prior machines for the purpose.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a plan view of the machine. Figure 2 is a sectional elevation with certain parts broken away to show. details of construction. Figure 3 is a sectional view of i the machine with the spider or top-plate removed taken on line III-III in Figure 2. Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the support for the sealing head. Figure 5 is a plan View, taken from line V-V in Figure 4, of the overhead support of the bulband means for rotating the same; Figures 6. '7 and 8 are views of parts of a clutch or friction release employed for temporarily halting the rotation of the sealing heads and buib supports. Figs. 9 and 9a illustrate fragmentary top plan views of the action of the stopping mechanism and Fig. 10 is a composite, phantom plan View, partly sectional, supplementary to Fig. 2, and showing the actuating mechanism of the machine, and Fig. 11 is a horizontal sectionalview taken on line XI-XI of Fig. 4.-

The object of the machine is to provide mechanical means whereby the sealing of glass bulbs for incandescent lamps can be efiected in the shortest possible time. Such bulbs are finished with a long neck into which is inserted a glass piece holding the filaments, this piece being called the stem. This stem is evolved from a piece having a round collar with flared skirt, the filaments being inserted in the collar and being subsequent- 1y fixed therein by fusing and closing the collar around them, the finished stem being provided with a small aperture in the flared skirt for the insertion and fusion of the small exhaust tube used for partially exhausting air from the bulb after sealing.

In order to assemble the bulb and stem the stem is placed by the operator'onto the top of the sealing head while the bulb is positioned between cleats onthe overhead support and-low way may; in practice, be subject ered until the neck of the bulb has been passed over the stem, there being a slight clearance between the edge of the flared stem and the inside of the neck of the bulb. The neck of the bulb then projects a short distance below the stern. During the operation of positioning the bulb and the stem the sealing head and the bulb support remain rotationally stationary. As the bulb is passed on to the next station for ore-heating, both the bulb and the sealing head begin to revolve in unison and continue to do so as longas heat is being appliedto them at this and subsequent stations. Theliames from the burners eiTect fusion by. imparting to the glass the required degree of plasticity and by simultaneously forcing the glassof the neck of the bulb inwardly against the edges of the flare. The, superfluone end of the bulb neck then drops off and is broken by the operator. After annealing the fused. end, the sealedbulb is taken from the machine and new separate bulb and stem are loaded on the sealing head and bulb support. The proper starting andhaltingof the rotation of the bulb and stem are the functions of the mechanism embodied in this application.

Referring to the drawings, l5 represents a-top plate or spider and It a stationary base provided with the annulartrough H for receiving the broken ends of the bul-bs as they drop off. The spider i5 is provided with the desired number, the drawings show twelve, of equally spaced sealing heads, heatbeing-applied by nine sets of burners, one set to each sealing station, so that three stations have no heat app-lied to them, which enables the operator to remove the sealedbulbs as they come along, and to position fresh unsealed bulbs and stemsin position. The amountof heat dependsupon the nature and combination of the burners, the arrangement; shoWnin Figure 1 therefore; although representative in a general to considerable variation. But iniany case; the bulb has to pass the 'pre-heater I 8, the cross-burners I 9, ma, I'Qb, We, the three burner crossfires 26, 26a, 25b,- 26c, Ztd, 28c, and thereafter 'the dirninished heatof the double burners? I. At this stage 1 the neck of the bulb will, by reason' ofits-excessive plasticity dropinto the trough. i? and annealing is effected by the single burners 22' and 220.

Gas, airand oxygen are supplied'to the burners by the feed-pipes 23, 23aand 2319 which have the connections 24 with the main supply tanks.

.Themixturecan be regulated by the valves-25.-

In addition to theabov sga cf en .thgrgij i: a

3 special compressed air feed 26 of which more will be mentioned later.

Referring to Figures 2 and 4, it will be seen that the bulb is placed between the cleats 21 which are carried by and secured to the gear 28 rotatable on the ring bearing 29 in th overhead bulb support 30, the gear 28 being held against vertical displacement by the cover 3|. The overhead support is adjustably secured to the column M by such means as the clamp flanges'32 which are sprung inward by the screw bolts 33 by means of which the support 3i! can be radially aligned with the sealing head.

The gear 28 meshes with the pinion 34 which is secured to the vertical shaft 35. This shaft is rotatable in the bushings 36 and carries at its lower end the spur pinion 31 identical as to pitch and diameter with the upper pinion 34. Pinion 31 meshes with the gear 38 identical with gear 28 which is secured to sleeve 39 rotatable in the guide member 40, the guide member 40 being integral with the plate 4! secured to the spider if: by such means as the bolts 42. The sealing head '13 is slidably keyed in the guide 39 and is therefore actuated by the gear 38. The tube 43 as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, is hollow and generally corresponds with the tube I9 shown in Patent No. 1 655,050, issued to me January 3, 1928.

By the above description it wil1 be seen that the bulb seated in the overhead support and the flare poised on the sealing head thus rotate in unison, which is one of the essential requirements in the operation of sealing. The single column and cantilever support for the bulb insures noninterference of the supports with the burners since the supporting column is at all times stationary with reference to the sealing head. It is therefore possible to have a cross-fire from two opposed burners, provided, that the spacing of the sealing heads is sufliciently large to permit the installation of the burners.

As is the case in all sealing machines of this type, the sealing heads have axial as well as orbital rotation for they revolve about their own axes in order to insure uniform heating of the neck of the bulb in addition to revolving collectively with the spider on which they are mounted.

Referring to Figure 2 it is seen the sealing machine is driven by the motor 44 mounted on the bracket 45 which is secured to the support 46. The motor drives the horizontal shaft i8 by the belt 41. The shaft 48 is journalled in the bearings 59 and is equipped wtih the worm 50 which drives the worm gear keyed on the vertical shaft 52, this shaft being disconnected by the pin-clutch 53 operated by the clutch lever 54 and urged into engagement by the sprin 55.

The vertical shaft 52, which extends upward in the base 16 has keyed on it the worm 55 which drives the worm gear 51 on the shaft 58 journalled in the bearings 59. On shaft 58 is mounted the barrel cam 60 provided with the shoe 6| 4 follows that for the remainder of the revolution of the cam the sealing head remains stationary and the bulbs are exposed to the action of the burners for a corresponding length of time.

The rotation of the sealing heads is affected in the followin manner: The shaft 48 has the worm 66 keyed on it, driving the worm wheel 61 mounted on the vertical shaft 68 which is journalled in bearings 69 and 10. The spur gear I! is keyed on the shaft 68 and meshes with the gear 12 journalled on the hub 64 of the spider IS; the gear 12 is secured to the super-imposed gear 13 so that both these gears rotate in unison. Gear 13 meshes with the ring gear 14 which is freely journalled on the hub 15. The hub 15 is secured to the pinion 31 on shaft by the screws 16. It has the brake-shoes l1 guided in the grooves '18 and urged into frictional contact with the ring gear 14 by the coil springs 19, the friction being normally sufiicient to entrain the hub 15 and with it the gear pinion 31 and thus effect the rotation of the bulb support and sealing heads. After the sealed bulb is subjected to the final annealing process, rotation of the sealed bulb is discontinued without interferwhich, at every revolution of the cam engages one of a series of pins 62 of the disc 53 secured to the hub 64 of the spider l5 by such means as the screws 65. The number of pins carried by the disc corresponds to the number of sealing heads on the spider or plate, the throw of the cam being such that the spider is partially rotated to the extent of the arcuate distance between two consecutive sealing heads. This mechanism provides an intermittent o-r step-by-step movement to the plate or spider. As the arcuate length of the cam segment comprises only a fraction of the entire periphery of the cam it in with the intermittently rotative progress of the plate or spider so that the operator can remove the sealed bulb from the support and install an unsealed bulb and stem in its stead.

To this end the hub 15, which is carried by the pinion 31, is provided with a depending projection such as the stop pin 80. At the stations where temporary stopping of the rotation of the bulb is required, there is located a horizontally disposed and radially outwardly extending stop lever 8|, see Figure 3, swivelled on the shaft 82 which is fixedly secured to the base 16. The stop lever is yieldingly maintained in its normal position by the coil spring 83 and held against the stop 84. (See Figure 9.) In Figure 9 the direction of rotation of the gear 14 and its direction of travel with reference to the stop has been indicated by arrows. It is seen that when the hub 75 and the gear 14 have advanced to the position shown in full lines, the stop pin 86 will contact the end of the lever BI and will cease from rotating, and thereby stop the rotation of the sealing head and of bulb support. The gear 14, which is journalled on the hub 75 however, will continue to rotate in co-operation with the gear 13 and will therefore rotate with reference to the pinion 31 by overcoming the friction of the brake shoes 11. As the hub 15 advances, the stop pin 89 will eventually reach the position shown in broken lines and will immediately thereafter he disengaged from the end of the stop lever 8!, and the sealing head and bulb resume their rotation accordingly.

The above described function will take place when the stop pin 80, at the moment of contact, happens to be in position shown in the drawings, in which case the stop lever ill will not be displaced. This ideal condition, however, does not always prevail. The stop pin 86, for

. instance, at the moment of contacting the stop lever may already have passed the outer extremity of the lever, and the bodily progress of the gear 14 and hub 15 will then cause it to bear against the edge of the lever in the manner shown. The lever 8| will thereby be turned to the position shown in dotted lines and will presently be disengaged from the lever without having stopped the rotation of the hub 15. However, upon completion of the rotation of the hub it will contact the lever again, this time at its radially outer edge, as was the case in the first instance, and the rotation of the sealing head and bulb support then will be stopped, although the period of its stopping will be shorter than in the first instance. It will be noted that with the ring gear 14 rotating in a counterclockwise direction as indicated by the circular arrow in Fig. 9 during the orbital movement of the gear M and associated parts to the right, that the pin 83 will engage the lever 8| and will preclude rotation of the hub 75 until, in the orbital movement of the ring gear 14 and associated parts they have been carried to the right past said lever. The lever is held normally against stop 84 which prevents its clockwise rotation responducts 26, leading from the air supply pipe, to the bottom of the sealing head in the manner shown in Fig. 2.

l The duct 26, which in the drawing is shown as sive to the rotation of the ring gear 14; should the stop pin 8!] contact the lever 8| at a point which in Fig. 9a would be in the lower left hand corner of the lever, then on the continued rotation of the ring gear 74, the lever 3| would Sim ply be shifted to the dotted line position thereof, while the hub 15 continues its counterclockwise rotation. However, on the continued orbital movement of the ring gear in the direction indi cated by the straight arrow in said figure, the pin 80 would in the course of rotation of member M, be carried against the lever 8| at the fiat bottom face of the latter, and would thereby prevent rotation of the hub I5 until, in the further orbital rotation of the ring gear and associated parts in the direction indicated by the straight arrow, the pin 89 is carried past the lever 8|. The circular arrows indicating the counterclockwise rotation of ring gear M are designed by the reference letter A. The direction of continued orbital movement of the ring gear above referred to, is indicated by the straight arrow which is designated by the reference letter B. The removal of the superfluous length of the neck of the bulb takes place before the operation of annealing at the station indicator by burner 2| in Figure l, is accomplished in the usual way by compressed air which is admitted at the bottom of the sealing heads by the air duct 26, the air emerging at the top of the head and forcibly effecting the severance of the suleading to the sealing head at the extreme right,

in order not to obscure other parts at the left, preferably goes to the left, to the station corresponding to that of burner 2 i, as shown in Fig. 1. The duct 26 is shown in Fig. l as being disposed at a higher plane than the bulbs in passing over the top of the machine to clear the latter; this arrangement, however, may be varied by having the duct 26 pass through the side of the bottom of the base l6.

Iclaim:

1. In a machine for sealing glass bulbs, a guide member, a sleeve rotatably journalled in said guide member, a sealing head slidably keyed to said sleeve, a gear secured to said sleeve, means perfiuous part of the neck at its juncture with the fused edge of the flare. The Wall of the neck at this stage being of greatly reduced thickness, the severed part of the neck which encompasses the sealing head is then broken by the operator and the fragments collected in the trough I! which surrounds the main base Iii.

At its lower extremity the sealing head 43 is provided with the flanged collar !2 ridingon the cam track II, by the drop I! a of which causing the internal ball-grip on the exhaust tube of the flare to relax, thereby enabling the operator to remove the sealed bulb from the sealing head. The ball grip on the exhaust tube may be such as is shown in detail in Patent No. 1,655,050, issued to me January 3, 1928-see particularly, Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of said patent. Compressed air for severing the superfluous length of the neck of the bulb is fed to the sealing head by the to axially slidably reciprocate said head in said sleeve, a vertical shaft, means to rotatably journal said shaft in said machine in parallel spaced axial relation to said sealing head, a pinion secured to said shaft in mesh with the gear of said sleeve, a hub fixed to said pinion, a ring gear positioned on said hub, means on the hub engaging the ring gear to normally hold the hub and ring gear together for rotation in unison, means engaging said ring gear to rotate the latter and thereby to rotate the pinion and the sealing head, stop means carried by said hub, means on said machine adapted to be selectively engaged by said stop means to hold the hub stationary during the continued rotation of the ring gear, means for supporting a glass bulb in axial alignment with said head, and means engaging said shaft and said bulb supporting means for rotation of the bulb in unison with the shaft.

2. In a machine for sealing glass bulbs, a guide member, a sleeve rotatably journalled in said guide member, a sealin head slidably keyed to said sleeve, a gear secured to said sleeve, means to axially slidably reciprocate said head in said sleeve, a vertical shaft, means to rotatably journal said shaft in said machine in parallel spaced axial relation to said sealing head, a pinion secured to said shaft in mesh withthe gear of said sleeve, a hub fixed to said pinion, a ring gear positioned on said hub, means on the hub engaging the ring gear to normally hold the hub and ring gear together for rotation in unison, means engaging said ring gear to rotate the latter and thereby to rotate the pinion and the sealing head, stop means carried by said hub, levers pivotally mounted on said machine adapted to be selectively engaged by said stop means to hold the hub stationary during the continued rotation of the ring gear, means engaging said levers to normally hold them in a predetermined position under tension, means for supporting a glass bulb in axial alignment with said head, and means engaging said shaft and said bulb supporting means for rotation of the bulb in unison with the shaft.

CHARLES EISLER. 

